NEW YORK, NY – A retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent who spent 25 years fighting the drug trade has been charged with agreeing to launder approximately $12 million for one of Mexico’s most violent cartels, federal prosecutors announced Friday.
Paul Campo, 61, of Oakton, Virginia, and his associate Robert Sensi, 75, of Boca Raton, Florida, appeared before a federal magistrate judge in New York on Friday and were ordered detained without bail.
The pair faces four conspiracy counts involving narcoterrorism, terrorism, narcotics distribution, and money laundering in connection with their alleged dealings with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a Mexican criminal organization designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States in February.
Prosecutors allege Campo and Sensi converted roughly $750,000 in drug proceeds to cryptocurrency and discussed procuring military-grade weapons including AR-15 rifles, M4 carbines, grenade launchers, and rocket-propelled grenades for the cartel.
Campo, who served as deputy chief of financial operations for the DEA before retiring in 2016, allegedly offered to be a “strategist” for the cartel during recorded conversations with an undercover informant.
The case against the defendants includes hours of recorded conversations, cellphone location data, emails, and surveillance images, according to prosecutors.
Campo’s attorney dismissed the indictment as “somewhat sensationalized and somewhat incoherent” and denied the defendants agreed to obtain weapons. Sensi’s lawyer unsuccessfully argued for his release, citing health issues.
Sensi has a prior criminal history, having been convicted in the late 1980s and early 1990s of mail fraud and theft totaling $2.5 million.
The charges come amid increased scrutiny of DEA misconduct. The Associated Press has documented at least 16 agents charged over the past decade with offenses ranging from child pornography to drug trafficking and leaking intelligence to defense attorneys.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel has emerged as one of the most powerful and violent drug trafficking organizations in Mexico, responsible for fentanyl distribution throughout the United States.
Both defendants face decades in federal prison if convicted on all counts.
Excellent reporting!!